ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More clubs are starting to get it

https://www.elmbrookunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FAQ-Document.pdf

My player has an August birthday, and the age matrix has them playing with the grade below
them. Will they be able to play with their grade level?
o Players with August birthdays will have the choice to play with their school year or stay
with their age group. You will make this choice when registering for the fall season (Rec
and Academy) or tryouts (Select).
o Whatever choice the player makes is for the entire year as rosters will be set after
registration (Rec and Academy) or tryouts (Select).
o If a player is unhappy with their choice, they may change it for the 2027-2028 season.
o EBU highly recommends having a discussion with your current coach prior to making
this decision.
o For incoming Freshmen only – if your August birthday allows you the choice to play on
the 8th grade team (U14), and you choose that option, you will need to commit to a full
year with your EBU team and forgo your Freshman year of high school soccer.

Nice attempt at spin. Instead, this is yet another case-by-case situation. It makes sense to empower affected families. It's a roll of the dice, tho, either way. You still have to make the top team, which is why they advise talking with coaches and give advice on what to do if you're not happy with the outcome.

This club is now Girls Academy, BTW, for their top girls and MLSN Academy for top boys.

Most importantly, will have the choice, means kids aren't forced into grade year soccer.

[Anonymous]

The club my child plays at has shuffled all players by school year. No one was given choice to play up or down that I know of. It has its pros but in short term lots of cons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The club my child plays at has shuffled all players by school year. No one was given choice to play up or down that I know of. It has its pros but in short term lots of cons.

Mine so far has been case-by-case, with a push toward playing on age especially top teams with a few exceptions for top talent.

[Anonymous]

With the snow and late ID sessions I'm not sure how this will shake out honestly.

[Anonymous]

Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

[Anonymous]

Do any clubs actuly care about "paying customers" ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Every parent I speak with doesn't care about grade for club soccer. The way you felt as a wee one isn't indicative of how today's kids feel, the world's moved on in the past 60 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

Yet MLSNext has bio-banding and no girls league has it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

Yet MLSNext has bio-banding and no girls league has it

Apples to oranges, girls puberty ends so much sooner. But sure you could argue that boys is much more competitive trying to get on the highest level teams compared to girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

Yet MLSNext has bio-banding and no girls league has it

Apples to oranges, girls puberty ends so much sooner. But sure you could argue that boys is much more competitive trying to get on the highest level teams compared to girls.

Bio-banding literally contradicts "they segment kids by age not height or weight". Not sure how you could be more wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

Yet MLSNext has bio-banding and no girls league has it

Apples to oranges, girls puberty ends so much sooner. But sure you could argue that boys is much more competitive trying to get on the highest level teams compared to girls.

Bio-banding literally contradicts "they segment kids by age not height or weight". Not sure how you could be more wrong?

They is ECNL. This is an ECNL thread btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every parent I speak with isn't interested in having their kid play on a team with kids a grade younger. No idea how the kids feel about playing on a younger grade team but I wouldnt have wanted to do it when I was young so I assume they're the same.

Doesn't matter, age groups based on birthdays. Can't make everyone happy. Clubs will blackball for complaining.

If you dont want your kid playing on a grade down team and some club chooses to "blackball" your kid for not playing down a grade whats the difference? You end up in the same place either way. Finding a differnet club.

Also its ridiculous that you'd even float the idea that clubs would blackball players that dont want to play on grade down teams. I cant think of a better way to clubs to lose paying customers.

You sound like a girl dad. Boys teams are highly competitive because there are twice as many boys competing for top teams. They segment the kids by age not height or weight or grade.

Yet MLSNext has bio-banding and no girls league has it

Apples to oranges, girls puberty ends so much sooner. But sure you could argue that boys is much more competitive trying to get on the highest level teams compared to girls.

Bio-banding literally contradicts "they segment kids by age not height or weight". Not sure how you could be more wrong?

They is ECNL. This is an ECNL thread btw.

This thread is about anything and everything - and when people say stupid stuff - it gets called out.